There Are More of Us
by acscott022
Summary: It's been a year since Max decided not to save the world. Since then, the Flock has rebuilt the Island and helped train all of the mutants that live there. When signs of other mutants pop up across the United States, The Flock is sent to a suburb of Minnesota and forced to go to high school in order to find another mutant.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It's been a year since I didn't save the world. We were able to get everyone out of the cave and rebuild the Island. We started training all of the other mutants so they can control their abilities. It's been a good year.

I was sitting in my treehouse, practicing my new guitar (that's right! Maximum can nowplay an instrument!), when I heard someone say, "Hey Max." I turned and saw Fang in the doorway. We've rebuild our relationship and almost back to where we were before he left.

"What's up?" Fang came over and sat on the edge of my bed.

"Your mom wants to talk to us. She said that it was really important."

"Ok. I'll be right there." Fang got up, kissed my cheek and headed towards the door. "She said meet her in conference room B."

I packed up my guitar, jumped off the tree branch that connected mine and Fang's houses, and began flying towards the conference rooms. That's right. I flew. You guys really shouldn't be surprised, and if you are, stop reading and go back 8 books. Anyway, I flew towards the conference rooms and looked down on the forest below me. In one clearing, I saw Angel teaching kids to move things with their minds. In another, Gasman and Iggy were teaching the older kids how to build bombs. Hopefully they wouldn't blow up half of the forrest again...

When I reached The Building the held the conference rooms, I landed and walked in. Conference room B was on the third floor, on the other side of the building. I walked towards the elevators and saw Nudge teaching some kids how to hack NASA in the auditorium. I finally reached conference room B and saw Fang, My mom and various adults that work in The Building.

"What's up" I asked while taking a seat next to Fang. He gave me a small smile and rested has hand low on my inner leg, close to my knee. "What's so important?" My mom looked at the other adults nervously.

"Well, Max," started a younger man wearing jeans and ratty t shirt, while holding a clicker. Is name tag said Tommy. He couldn't be older than 22. "We understand you have taken down many Institutions that take children and experiment on them. Many of which people here have come from." I nodded, confirming what Tommy said. "With that, the past year we have been keeping an eye out all over the world, for other Institutions or stories of children being able to do some of the things that The Flock can. Just in case." Tommy clicked the clicker once, and a map of the continental US came up.

"We're lucky we did." An official looking women said.

Tommy clicked the clicker again and slowly, starting in Washington state, red dots started appearing across the States. There were about 25 in total. "All over the US, stories of kids disappearing, some reappearing and being able to do things no one should be able to do."

I just sat there. I couldn't believe what they were saying. All of the running we did, every fight we fought, everything we went through for 15 years, was for nothing. There were Schools still active, kidnapping and torturing innocent kids. I didn't want to believe it.

I looked over to Fang. To anyone else, it looked like he didn't care. That the information just given to us didn't affect him. But i wasn't anyone else. I could see his jaw slightly clenched in anger, i could see disbelief that inhabited his eyebrows and edges of his eyes. I looked at my mother. She was looking at me, trying to figure out how i was feeling.

Finally, after more than 5 minutes I spoke up. "How do we stop this?"

Another woman, who was blond and wearing a skirt and blazer, whose nametag read Becca, stood up and clapped her hands. "I am so glad you asked that Maximum!" I refrained from telling her to call me Max. "We are sending all of the older kids to each one of these dots, with the intent to find the mutants in the area, and reporting back to us once they find the Institution so that we can shut it down."

"What about the Flock?" I asked. "We're going somewhere too." Somewhere warm I hope.

Tommy clicked his clicker again and the map zoomed into one of the dots that were further north. So much for warm. "You and the rest of the Flock will be going to a suburb of the city, Minneapolis, a city in Minnesota. You guys will be attending a high school called Osseo, which is the school the mutant attends." Fang squeezed my leg when I prepared to stand up.

"School?" I shouted. "Absolutely not! Every experience that I have had with schools has not been pleasant."

"Max, sweetheart," my mom said softly. "I know how you feel about school, but it is vital to finding this mutant." I leaned back in my seat. I couldn't say no to my mom.

"Fine. We'll go to school." I grumbled. Fang released his grip on my leg, knowing that I wasn't going to fight anymore.

"Do we know anything about this mutant?" Fang finally spoke up. "You know, so that we can find them easier."

Another man stood up, as Becca sat. He didn't have a name tag. "We know very little." Tommy clicked again. A smiling girl with red hair, blue eyes, braces and glasses popped up. It looked like a yearbook photo. "This is Adrienne Stevens. This past June she went missing while walking home and two months later, she reappeared more than 3 hours away from her home. She told the authorities of a laboratory that conducted different experiments on her."

"Next month, she will be a senior at Osseo." Tommy said "We need you to get close to her and find out what her mutation is. You guys will be in Minnesota all school year, gaining Adrienne's trust."

We were in the meeting for another hour, talking about when we leave, where we will be staying, and various other things about helping Adrienne. After, Fang and I called a Flock meeting. The reactions varied from person to person.

"Finally! School!"

"But Gazzy and I still haven't finished the bomb!"

"Can I go by Captain Teror again?"

"Can Total come with?"

You can guess who said what.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N Hi guys! This is the first story I am posting on here, and I hope y'all like it! Sorry if there are any errors, I stink at spotting them. Don't forget to R &R!**

Chapter One-

We arrived in Minnesota 3 days before school started. The Island provided a us a huge house along with furniture, clothes and a fully stocked fridge already there. They also promised to pay for any expenses we would have in the future. Before we left, they insisted that we get involved in the school, along as Fang and me getting jobs. Iggy would too, but he was, you know, blind.

Nudge, Angel, and Gasman wanted to go and explore the neighborhood, but first I called a Flock meeting in the dining room.

"Ok!" I shouted. "First things first, we need a cover story. The Island said that they told our schools that Iggy and I are twins and Gazzy and Angel are our little brother and sister. Fang an Nudge are adopted siblings whose parents were best friends with ours before they died in a car crash. Our parents took them in and became their legal guardians. Our parents also travel a lot, so that's why we are on our own. Everyone got it?" Five heads noddled my way.

"Second! We need names. They need to be normal names-" Everyone looked at Gasman. "- and we need to remember them." Everyone looked at Nudge.

"So, in other words," Iggy started. "Gazzy can't pick his name and Nudge can't say her name is Crystal then change it to Tiffany and say it is hyphenated?"

"Yup! Exactly!" I said. "So, what are our names?"

Fang spoke up first. "Nick was fine three years ago back in Virginia. It'll be fine here."

Iggy laughed and mumbled, "What ever you say Fnick." I whacked his head, and while rubbing where I hit him, Iggy said, "Yeah, I'll stick to Virginia's name too, Jeff."

It was quiet for a moment until Angel said, "I'll go by Avery I think." I nodded and wrote it down in the text message i was going to sent to the Island from the phone my mom gave me before I left.

"After seeing my file about my parents with the name Monique, I've always been partial to it. I think I'll go by that." I nodded towards Nudge and typed down the name/

"Gasman, you're name will be Jason." I told him. "I'm going to keep Max, because it's still normal and I can't think of any other name."

"That's not fair!" Nudge said. "We needed names, so you do too!" Gasman and Iggy nodded along.

It was quiet for a while as people thought of a name for me. Nudge then quietly said, "I can't think of a single name that would fit you…" Everyone nodded in agreement. "Ok Max, you can keep Max."

"Thank you!" I said. "Now that that is out of the way, yall can do whatever. The Island already got school supplies for us, along with clothes. You guys can get to know the town, find grocery stores, restaurants and whatnot. Just make sure you are ready to leave Tuesday morning at 6.45." Everyone said ok and then went their own ways. "Oh! Fang, we have to apply for jobs too. Becca said the sooner the better because all of the college students just left and a lot of places are hiring." Fang walked back over and gave me a kiss.

"We can go tomorrow. Tommy just told me that there are only 5 bedrooms in this house and that we could share." I smiled and Fang lead me towards our room. Now, dear reader, get your head out of the gutter. Fang and I didn't have sex. We are both virgin and agreed that until the Flock gets older and not until we feel that we are all safe, it was going to stay that way.

~::~

It was 7 am and The Flock and I drove up to the school. Over the weekend, Fang and I applied at 6 different places, Iggy learned the layout of the house and cooked for us and Nudge, Gazzy and Angel explored our new neighborhood.

This morning, We first dropped off Angel at the closest elementary school. She was only 8 now, but since she was so smart, the school allowed her to go into the 4th grade. We then dropped off Gasman at the middle school that was close to the high school. He was now 11, so he was in 6th grade. Nudge, Iggy, Fang and I headed towards Osseo Senior, since Nudge was 14 and a freshman, and the rest of us were 17 and seniors.

We arrived at the school and headed towards the counseling office to find out our homerooms, since that is where we would get our schedules. We walked in and I looked around. There was only a woman behind a waist high desk talking to a girl with red hair.

"Thank you for coming in to show around any new students that need help. It's the first day of school, I'm surprised no other ambassadors came in!" the woman behind the desk said.

"Of course I came in Jenna! I love giving the tours and helping people to their classes." The girl replied.

I cleared my throat to make our presence known. The woman, Janna I guess, looked up and the girl turned around. When i turned around, I couldn't believe it! It was Adrienne! Finding her was easier than I thought it would be… I looked over at Fang and noticed that he saw her too.

"Hi!" Janna said. "How can I help you?"

"Hi, we're new students and were wondering if we could get our homeroom teacher's name, so we can get our schedules." I said politely.

Janna nodded and asked for our names. "I'm Max Ride and this is my brother Jeff."

"You both have Linkin." Adrienne, who was just sitting, reading a book, looked up at that moment. "I have Linkin too. I can take them." Janna asked me if that was okay and I said yes.

Janna looked at Nudge and Fang, asking them their names. "Nick Blank. My sister Monique." Ah Fang. A man of many words. Janna nodded and said, "Nick, you have Indigo, and Monique since you are younger, you have Martin."

Adrienne spoke up again, "My boyfriend has Indigo as well. I was going to head over to say hi anyway if you want me to show you the way. Sorry- Monique? Martin is in the opposite direction."

Fang nodded and Nudge shrugged and said it was fine.

"Alright!" Adrienne said. "Let's go!"

~::~

Adrienne finished the tour and Nudge left to go to her homeroom. "I am so sorry! I completely forgot to tell you my name! I'm Adrienne. Everyone calls me Aid though."

"Nick" Fang raised his hand slightly.

"Hey." Iggy said, looking right above Aid's head. So close! "I'm Jeff." Aid looked behind her, looking for what Iggy was looking for.

"He's blind." I told her. Aid nodded, understanding. "Max, by the way."

"Nice to meet y'all."

"Y'all?" Iggy asked. "I thought that was only something people said in the south."

"I lived in Texas for a few years" Aid explained. "It was back in 9th grade, and only for two years, but it was one of the things I could never shake." As she spoke, I noticed that Aid had the Minnesota accent. Like the one in the movie Fargo, but not as thick.

"Anyway! This is Indigo's room." Aid stopped in front of a room that looked like it was an art room. The door was open and I saw a guy who was pretty tall, not as tall as Fang and Iggy, but still tall. "Hey babe!" Aid said, giving they guy a kiss. "Max, Nick, Jeff, this is my boyfriend, Jake." Aid and Jake looked at each other the way everyone wanted to be looked at. Their gazes were full of love and happiness. It was the look that you give a person when your are love, and there is no one else in the entire world for you.

"Hey." Jake said, nodding towards us.

"Babe, Nick is in your Homeroom, and I was wondering if you could tell him where his classes are?"

"Sure thing. Now, get to class, you don't want to be late on the first day."

"Alright, I'll text you when I find out my lunch." Aid and Jake kissed again and when they pulled away Jake Whispered something in Aid's ear. "Yeah, I feel fine. Don't worry ok? I love you."

"Love you too. Lets go and get your schedule, Nick!" Fang followed Jake into the room after giving me a quick kiss.

"I'll see you later. Okay?" I nodded and walked toward Aid and Jeff, who were a few feet away.

"Now then! Off to Linkin! I think y'all will like him." Aid smiled. She began walking towards our homeroom, leaving me and Iggy to follow. Time to start the day! Joy.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N Hiya everybody! How are y'all doing today? Here is Chapter 2! Tell me what y'all think, and if you see any errors, please tell me? Thank you! Anyway! Enjoy! Don't forget to follow/ favorite/ review! Thanks!**

Chapter 2

"Linkin!"

"Stevens!"

"It's good to see you Mr. Linkin."

"You too Stevens."

This is the first thing Iggy and I encountered when we walked into homeroom. Aid walked over and sat on one of the desks and put her feet on the chair in front of her.

"Linkin, this is Max and her brother Jeff. They just moved here." Mr. Linkin sat down at his desk and put his feet on it.

"Max, Jeff, nice to meet you guys. Where did you move here from?"

"Colorado." Iggy said. Mr. Linkin nodded with approval.

"BLAKE!"

"ADRIENNE!" I turned to see what the screeching was about.

"What's going on?" Iggy asked quietly, leaning down closer to my ear.

"I think one of Aid's friends came in and by the volume of their screeching, they haven't seen each other in a while."

"Ah."

"Sorry guys!" Aid turned and said to us. "This is my best friend, Blake."

"Hi." Blake said to us, smiling.

"So! I forgot to tell you." Aid said. "On the first day of school, we have a pep fest. It's basically a pep rally, our school just refuses to call it that. Each grade sits together and they wear their grades color. Freshman have grey, sophomores are white, juniors black and seniors wear orange!" I looked around the classroom seeing that everyone was wearing an orange senior shirt. Some people, like Blake and Aid, were wearing all orange. "You can sit with us if you want." Iggy answered Aid for me. "Yeah, as long as Nick can sit with us."

"Of course! I actually ment to as-" Aid was cut off by Linkin handing her her new schedule.

"AP English again Stevens? You better work harder in there than you did last year. I don't want to see those grades when you can do better than that. Some with that HP Physics." Aid nodded as she let her head hang.

"Yes sir, I plan on it." Linkin nodded as he continued to pass out schedules. When he gave Iggy and me ours, I read off Iggy's:

1) HP Physics

2) Economics

3) AP English

4) Art of Film

5) Culinary Arts

6) Pre Calculus

There were some difficult classes it looked like... My schedule, I thought, wasn't too bad.

1) Pre Calculus

2) Physics

3) English

4) Art of Film

5) Government

6) Comp Sports

WTH is Comp sports? Aid came over and asked to look at our schedules. "Cool! I have Art of Film with you both, gov with you, Max, and then physics and English with you Jeff. Max, I t also looks like you have English, math and gov with Blake." Good... That means I will know people.

"Ok!" Mr. Linkin shouted. "Time to head down to the pep fest!" Everyone in homeroom started walking down to the main gym. About half way there, we ran into Fang and Jake. Fang just slung his arm around me without saying anything. I gave him a questioning look.

"Guys behind you were checking you out." I silently laughed at Fang's overprotectiveness.

The pep fest was fun alright. I got to know Jake, Aid and Blake a bit more. After the pep fest, we headed to first hour. Since Blake was in Pre Calc with me, we just walked together.

"Where did you and your family move here from?"

I replied with the first place that popped into my head. "Colorado."

"Nice! How are you liking Minnesota?"

"It's alright. It's pretty flat, but we haven't been here very long." We were quiet for a bit before I remembered that I needed to be learning more about Adrienne. "Aid seems cool. Tell me a bit more about her." Blake smiled sadly.

"You should have seen her before." I decided to play dumb and ask: "Before what?" Blake was quiet for a minute, as if she was deciding whether or not to tell me.

"Well, it's no secret around here about what happened to Adrienne, so I don't think she will get too mad at me for telling you." Blake took a deep breath. "Back in June, about two weeks after school got out, Aid and Jake went to a park near Aid's house. Jake got a call from his mom saying that his sister had an allergic reaction to something and that she was in the hospital. Aid insisted that he go to his sister, and that she would walk home in a little bit. Jake left and she started texting me. I think that she was walking home when these guys walked up behind her and covered her mouth and nose with a chloroform soaked rag. I was the last person to talk to her." Blake took another deep breath.

"Jake blamed himself the entire time, saying that he should have insisted on taking her home. We spent almost two months looking for her before she called her mom. She was three hours north, in a city called Duluth.

"Aid told the cops about this laboratory that conducted these experiments on her. I think that the only person she told them to in detail was Jake." Blake and I got to class, and took two seats next to each other towards the back. She said hi to a few people, but as soon as we sat down, she continued her story.

"Before she was kidnapped, Aid was this huge ball of light. Sure, she had her own issues, depression and stuff, but when it came to her friends, if any of us had a problem, it became her problem. If anyone was sad, she would do everything in her power to make them happy because she has spent half of her schooling career depressed and she didn't want anyone else to feel that way." The teacher came in then and quickly went of this year's syllabus. After, she gave us the rest of class to talk.

I turned to Blake. "Aid seems like she is still like that."

"Aid has been in every school play and musical here since 9th grade. She went to an elementary school that specializes in the arts. She's been like my sister since the second day of school our freshmen year, and I can tell you, it's all an act.

"I've talked to Jake a few times since Aid's been back, and he told me that she's called him at two am crying, because of the nightmares. She is suddenly terrified of fire and water when she used to love them both. Sometimes, if you look closely, you can see her tense up when someone she doesn't know gets too close. She has panic attacks constantly and her depression has gotten worse. It kind of makes you think about what they could have done to make her like this." Blake smiled sadly again and as the bell rang, I thought, 'trust me, I can'.

The rest of the day went by slowly. I had 3 classes with Fang and lunch with Nudge and everyone else. Turns out, Nudge was becoming friends with Jake's sister. School got out at 2, so Nudge, Iggy, Fang, and I went home to wait for Gasman to get out at 2.40 and Angel to get out at 4.30.

~::~

Adrienne sat at the dining room table with a glass of water and an unlit candle in front of her. She rested her hands on the table and set her head on top of them. She sat and stared at the water as a perfect sphere of water rose above the glass. Aid let it hang there for a while and just stared at it with a blank face.

The feeling of absolute terror when she woke of in a dog cage will never leave Aid. The scars on her stomach from when the scientists cut her open without any anesthetic as they failed to increasing her healing will never go away. The super hearing, smell, and speed from the canine DNA she was injected with can't be ignored. Her ability to control the elements, (not matter how cool it would have been to be able to do four months ago) was now hated, because it was given to Aid forcefully and painfully. Reading and communicating through minds was interesting though.

The nightmares and flashbacks haunt Aid. Being in school, surrounded by people was awful. Thankfully Jake was there to help.

Aid let the ball of water splash back into the glass. She slowly moved her attention to the candle and stared at it as the wick caught fire.

She hated this. She hated what that lab did to her.


End file.
